Oshkosh
Defense is working on a deal with Saudi Arabia for the sale of M-ATV MRAP
vehicles.

The
U.S. Company Oshkosh Defense is working on a deal with Saudi Arabia for
an undisclosed number of the lighter M-ATV
MRAPs, company officials here said. Since the potential Saudi
deal is still in its early stages, John Bryant, senior vice president
of defense programs for the company, said he could not provide any additional
details, though he does expect announcements to be made by the end of
the year.

Since the program
came on line in 2009, the US Army, Marine Corps, and Special Operations
Command purchased about 8,700 M-ATVs
for use in Afghanistan, but as part of the overall divesture of its
wartime MRAP fleet, the government will keep about 5,600 of them, with
the Special Ops Command retaining about 250 vehicles.

Bryant said that the US government is planning on re-fitting almost
all of the vehicles that come back from Afghanistan at its own government
depots, but that Oshkosh’s supplier base should still see plenty
of work funneling parts and technical expertise to the depots to finish
up the work.

He also said that
the company’s supplier base should stay pretty healthy over the
next several years given the amount of work they have servicing Oshkosh’s
heavy and medium vehicle fleets, as well.

The company is also working on a series of safety, survivability, and
mobility upgrades for the vehicles as they come home, including suspension
upgrades and a new communications suite for international customers
that would allow them to integrate more — and different —
radios onto the platforms.

As one of the three
finalists for the Joint
Light Tactical Vehicle program, Bryant is concerned about
the fact that the program’s managers say that they’ll run
out of money to continue testing by next summer, unless they receive
an infusion of cash.

Still, he said,
the company is continuing to perform its own testing on the JLTV,
and is eager to share that information with the government if they need
it.